October 18, 2021 • 19 mins
A presidential assassination, a devastating earthquake and criminal gangs engaging in mass kidnappings. The problems plaguing Haiti today are many — and they’re often misunderstood. How can the U.S. and the international community help bring stability and economic renewal to the country? Garry Pierre-Pierre, founder and publisher of The Haitian Times, joins The Recount Daily Pod to share his insights.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
From the recount of Marina nine and and you're listening
to the Recount daily Pod Today's Monday, October eighth. There's
nothing in Haiti for them the less long time ago
and ten years and is a long time because thanks
chanced so rapidly. That was Gary Pierre Pierre, founder and
publisher of the Haitian Times. He'll break down the ongoing
crisis in Haiti a little later on, but first the
(00:30):
morning headlines. The holiday season maybe getting a little merrier.
Dr Anthony Faucci, White House Chief Medical Advisor, says fully
vaccinated people can now gather together safely this holiday season.
It's a major reversal from the CDC's guidance earlier this
month that urged people to be cautious and celebrate outdoors
(00:51):
with virtual gatherings. Vouci voice concern over a potential fifth
wave if more people do not get vaccinated. The nation's
top infectious is ease doctor warned the pandemic is not over.
According to the New York Times COVID Tracker, while there
is a decrease in COVID related cases over the past
two weeks, still roughly more than fifteen hundred Americans are
(01:14):
dying daily from COVID. While most states are seeing a decline,
Alaska and Montana are recording the highest number of cases
per capita in the country. It's being dubbed strike October.
Americans are leaving their jobs in record numbers. August saw
record breaking four point three million people quit their jobs.
(01:37):
With workers having more opportunities in the job market, hundreds
of thousands of people are striking over grievances about wages, benefits,
and quality of life. According to Cornell University School of
Industrial Labor Relations, there's been over a hundred and seventy
eight strikes this year alone. Just last Thursday, ten thousand
(01:57):
John Deer workers at fourteen factories across four states staged
a strike after the United Auto Workers union rejected a
contract offer. The union is calling for increased pay, improved
retirement benefits, and removing forced overtime. This is the first
strike in twenty five years at John Deere, with the
last strike lasting a hundred and sixty three days. Similarly,
(02:21):
over one thousand, four hundred Kellogg's employees went on strike
on October six, demanding better pay and benefits at factories
in Battle Creek, Michigan. Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Memphis, Tennessee, and Omaha, Nebraska.
And Hollywood averted a huge hault in production on Saturday
after over sixty thousand production workers reached a deal hours
(02:44):
before a planned strike. And lastly, Haiti, seventeen missionaries, sixteen
Americans and one Canadian were kidnapped while on a trip
to an orphanage this past Saturday. That's according to Christian
Aid ministries. Five of those kidnapped your children. A Haitian
police inspector told the Associated Press that the four hundred
(03:05):
Mao Zoo gang kidnapped the group about seventeen miles east
of Haiti's capital, port of Prince. The U. S State
Department is aware of Saturday's kidnapping. The problems plaguing Haiti today,
including its gang violence, are extremely complex. How can the
US and the international community help bring stability to the
country and what's America's responsibility to Haitian asylum seekers? Here
(03:29):
to help us better understand what's happening in Haiti. Gary
Pierre Pierre, founder and publisher of the Haitian Times. Gary, welcome,
thanks for having Arena. I want to ask you about
the US Mexico border, the migrant crisis. There there was
a camp of hopeful Haitian asylum seekers and he grew
to fourteen thousand. The US was criticized for their response
(03:52):
the videos at the border. We saw officials on horseback
appearing to whip the Haitians to try and prevent them
from crossing over. Pretty disturbing. Were they there in the
first place? Well? Were you know? These asylum seekers were
people who left Haiti after the earthquake, and large number
right the massive earthquake in they went to Brazil to
(04:13):
work in the construction industry because Brazil had two major events.
It was organizing the Olympics and the World Cup, and
so about a hundred and fifty Haitians went to Brazil
to work. After the games were over, there was nothing
for them to do, and the Brazilian basically said you
(04:33):
are in your own They couldn't get in a job.
They realized that they didn't need a visa to get
to Chile and they faced blissoming racism. The welcome was
not red coverted. And then when President Joe Biden extended
TPS for Haitians. TPS is temporary protective status given by
(04:54):
the or as two countries played by natural disasters or
conditions where they can go back words. There's circulating in
South America that if they came to the border and
they got into the United States, they will be given TPS.
It will be extended to them. So that's why you
had this migration that took as long as two to
three months from South America up to the Mexican border.
(05:18):
There's nothing in Haiti for them. They left long time ago,
and ten years and is a long time because thanks
sharing so rapidly. So the situation on the ground in
Haiti has really only become more chaotic since the May
announcement regarding TPS by Homeland Secretary. New Yorkist President Jovanna
Moise was assassinated early in July. Then cam August, the
(05:39):
country was hit by seven point two magnitude earthquake. Tell
me what the conditions are like in Haiti now. Well,
the earthquake hit the southern peninsula, which is at home
to roughly two million people, and about half of those
people are still what we call living in tent we
could call them homeless internally displaced. A lot of people
left their village of towns and hamlets where they were
living and I see refuge and shout to other places.
(06:02):
There's some humanited terran it, but it's not enough. I
would ask you a little bit more about the assassination
of President Louise Haities chief prosecutor said in September there
was actually credible evidence linking the acting Prime Minister R. L.
Henry to the president's murder. Shortly after that announcement, the
prosecutor was out of a job. What's going on there?
(06:22):
How is this impacting the justice system? Well, first of all,
that was really irresponsible for the justice to say that
it provided no evidence whatsoever. His evidence was that Arieli,
who is a prime minister you was speaking of, had
a call with someone who's supposedly wanted in the assassination. Well,
that person is a former government official. Now this is
(06:47):
a smaller circle of political people, right, So the fact
that they were talking to each other means absolutely nothing.
In fact, if they were not talking to each other,
it would be a problem because everyone was shocked. I
know I was when I heard the news, and so
people were trying to talk to each other to figure
out what was going on. To ask you a question,
what it does, it muddies the water even more and
(07:09):
it extends the chaos on top of what already exists,
because he should know better as a prosecutor not who
make accusations without providing the evidence. And so it was
unfortunate because I think the investigation right now lacks credibility
because of that. And he was out of a job
because I think are allow to read who had the
(07:31):
authority and fired and pardon for cause, and so there's
no one now, there's no investigating judge, and so the
kiss Freeman's in limbo. The Haitian police have also detained
a wide array of people in connection with the killing
that You've got eighteen Colombians, several Haitians, Haitian Americans. They're
still seeking others. What do you think the likelihood is
that there will be justice for the assassination of the president.
(07:56):
If we're counting on the Haitian judicial system, we're not
going to get much justice now. The FBI and the
Homeland Security sent investigators there. I'm not sure where they
are in their investigation. If I have any hope, it
is with them because they don't have any skin in
(08:16):
the game. They're professional, they're not gonna protect anyone. They'll
just follow the facts and let it take them where
they may. You know, a lot of people look at
countries where they don't really have a strong justice or
political system. How does the international community help a country
like Katie. Well, right now we have to go back
(08:40):
to really help threaten these institutions, as you mentioned, that
are the pillars of democracy, and when they are weak,
as they're in Haiti, start trying to build a house
from the third floor up. You can't that. It's ridiculous
notion that to ben think about it. Our profession, the
media is actually very weak. They're not well paid. In fact,
(09:03):
it's probably one of the lowest paid professions. And it's
not that it's paid that well here either, but at
least we can practice it um and they don't have
the training, they don't have the skills necessary to inform
the public and to distill and to process information, and
they don't have credibility themselves. So we have to look
(09:25):
at our profession and what it needs to help inform
civil society and the government and the junidicial system. The police,
they're extremely weak. Gains essentially control the country right now.
The gangs decide who goes where, and at one point
the government had to negotiate with the Games to allow
(09:47):
even the government ship meant to get to it. I mean,
think about that for a moment. So what the international
community can do is really trying to show up those
basic institutions and infrastructure that you need. Once Haiti has that,
the rest they can handle. One of the things I
would say that the U S did is that the
rushed through this democratic process and Haiti we went through
(10:11):
overnight from a twenty nine year dictatorship to democracy doesn't
work like that. All the institutions that we were talking
about were banned, There was no free press. The police
was just basically a militia responsible to one man the dictator.
Boys and girl scouts were banned. Any anything where people
got together. They were seen as threat to the state.
(10:33):
Civil society didn't exist, and we're still struggling with the
notion of democracy because it was a cheap version of
what democracy should be. Cheap version of what democracy should be.
It's so fascinating, Gary it talked you about this. You know,
we've covered Afghanistan extensively and one of the things we've
looked at is as we export democracy, we sometimes try
(10:54):
to americanize a country and As you mentioned, Haiti for
so long has been under dictatorship. It doesn't suddenly transform
into an American democracy. So how do we help, how
do we help create solid ground for that foundation to
be built? Well, the challenges that the United State doesn't
have an appetite for nation building, and that's basically what
(11:15):
it will take. Joe Biden has no capital on Capitol
Hill to present something like that. It can try funding
for some of these things. Billion. I don't mean there's
thirteen billion dollars of aid sent to Haiti over the
last decade. Where did that money go? Well, you know,
the government plays games with these numbers. Fourteen billion dollars
(11:38):
did not go into Haiti the last decade, and a
lot of it was pledged to Haiti but not actually delivered.
He doesn't have the capacity to spend fourteen billion dollars.
It doesn't. They kind of need cannot absorb it. Well,
we've got to take a quick break. We'll be right
back with Gary Pierre Pierre, founder and publisher of The
(11:59):
Haitian Times, on The Recount Daily Pod. Welcome back to
The Recount Daily Pod, a podcast from The Recount and
I Heart Radio. I'm here with Gary Pierre Pierre, founder
and publisher of the Haitian Times, and we're talking about
the Haitian migrant crisis as well as the country that's
trying to recover from a tumultuous summer. I want to
(12:22):
go back for a second, and you were saying President
Biden has made clear that he's not interested in nation building.
If that is your assessment and your understanding where Haitia
is right now, where do you see America being the
biggest partner in terms of this particular White House. Where
can they make the biggest difference. Well, I think there's
a sector of Haitians that has been helping out the
(12:44):
bid to help. It's Haitian Americans who have the skills,
essentially have the feet in both worlds. They understand Haiti.
They are Americans for the most part, and they have
the skill sets that are necessary. But previous administrations have
kept them at arms length for whatever reason. I don't know,
but it is the time now to enlisted them. They
(13:05):
have the capital, they have the interesting of the desire.
It's just that there are certain basic institutions, infrastructure that
need to be put into place for them to function.
For instance, he he doesn't have any hospital to speak of.
Right now, my generation, you know, we enter in the
retirement age and everybody is a dilemma for us. I
(13:26):
don't want to move to Florida, and I don't want
to move to the Dominican Republic for historical for all
the reasons, but he does not provide me an opportunity.
And there are people who can build really nice housing
development for retirees and they can come back. But you
need hospitals, you need electricity, you need a certain infrastructure
(13:47):
in place for you to take advantage of that. He
is a virgin country. Essentially, there's a need for everything,
but you don't have the basic infrastructure to ensure that
these projects actually take hold and flourished. You had mentioned
the security concerns as well. Gary. They go in hand
in hand with haiti struggling economy, the social unrest. Is
(14:09):
there anything being done right now to address those issues?
And if not, should there be? Can anything be done
while the government continues to be so unstable? Yes, there
was something that was working in along the same line
of Haitian Americans. Uh. The Obama administration had created this
program sending Haitian American police officers from New York and
(14:29):
Florida to work with the Police National Force to help
show their capacity and then Trump administration cancel that program.
And I think that's something that they can bring back
and bring it back bigger because the security problem is
also a job creation problem, because a lot of these
young men that these gang leaders have enlisted to go
(14:52):
out and carry these kidnappings and and shootings and all
of that. If you give them the choice between a
decent job and and and doing the dirty job, I
guarantee you you know, they'll take the job because their
food soldiers are not getting paid when when they kidnapped someone,
they're not getting the million dollars whatever amount of rent
some money that the gang leader is collected. You know,
So if they get an opportunity to get a job,
(15:15):
they'll take the job. And so you can tackle the
security issue and too fun vote from a law enforcement
and also from a social and job economic development perspective,
they're intertwined or two. Are you getting the sense that
people are still trying to escape Haiti? Absolutely right now.
The Coast Guard has been interdicting more people in the
(15:37):
high seas and really dangerous boats. Hayde is unlivable right
now and there's no hope and they are looking to
get out. I don't take any pleasure at all of
saying this, because you know, I devoted my professional life
to Haiti and trying to make it a better place.
So I can help people understand Hay, they help patients
(15:57):
understand Hey, they help Hatians and Haiti understand the diasport
and so you know, I've been trying to be a
bridge builder rather and to see where we've gotten it's
really disheartening. But I'm also optimistic that you know, we've
reached in a deer this is a moment where we
can decide, Okay, this cannot continue and we need to
turn things around. What gives you the biggest hope about
(16:21):
Haiti and what is your biggest worry. My biggest hope,
it's the people. The ingenuity of the Haitian people. You
have polyglocks. The Haitian is big French, Creole, Spanish and Portuguese.
That's an asset that they have that they can translate
into all kinds of opportunities. My biggest worry is the governance.
(16:41):
We've had a quterie of incompetent people at the helm
of the Haitian government because there are obstacles to progress.
Gary Pierre Pierre, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and founder
and publisher of the Haitian Times. Gary, so grateful you
could break down Haiti and explain this to deeper today.
Thanks for me. Now, I hope I was able to
(17:03):
do that, giving the complexity of Haiti. And now to
the look ahead. Here's what else we're watching today. Jury
selection begins today for the trial of the three white
men accused of murdering mod Arebury last year. Arebury, a
twenty five year old black man, was jogging down a
residential street in Brunswick, Georgia, before being chased down by
(17:24):
the three men in a pickup truck. The men suspected
Arebery of being behind recent break ins in the neighborhood.
Arebury's name was one of the many rallying cries at
racial justice protests that swept the country last year. First
Lady Dr Jill Biden, along with Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona,
will host the State and National Teachers of the Year
(17:47):
at the White House this afternoon. The event honors roughly
a hundred teachers for their excellence in teaching and commitment
to students learning. The National Teacher of the Year is
Kansas preschool teacher ta the Rossbroy and Julia urt Bay,
an elementary special educator, is National Teacher of the Year.
Congratulations to all the teachers. Absolutely real life superheroes. Get
(18:13):
ready to upgrade. Apple's annual fall live stream product event
called Unleashed is happening today. The show offers the latest
product updates for Apple, lots of speculation that we might
see a redesigned MacBook without the touch bar, AirPods with
shorter stems, and the release date for the new operating
system Monterey. Live stream will begin at one pm Eastern
(18:36):
on Apple's website. Have a great day, everyone, see you
back tomorrow. This is a Recount Daily Pod of podcast
from the Recount our Thanks to Gary Pierre Pierre, founder
and publisher of The Haitian Times, for being on the
show and if you like the podcast, I hope you'll
subscribe to the Recount Daily Pod. Do leave us a
(18:58):
rating on the Apple Podcast Out. I'm your host, Rina
and I
From the recount of Marina nine and and you're listening
to the Recount daily Pod Today's Monday, October eighth. There's
nothing in Haiti for them the less long time ago
and ten years and is a long time because thanks
chanced so rapidly. That was Gary Pierre Pierre, founder and
publisher of the Haitian Times. He'll break down the ongoing
crisis in Haiti a little later on, but first the
(00:30):
morning headlines. The holiday season maybe getting a little merrier.
Dr Anthony Faucci, White House Chief Medical Advisor, says fully
vaccinated people can now gather together safely this holiday season.
It's a major reversal from the CDC's guidance earlier this
month that urged people to be cautious and celebrate outdoors
(00:51):
with virtual gatherings. Vouci voice concern over a potential fifth
wave if more people do not get vaccinated. The nation's
top infectious is ease doctor warned the pandemic is not over.
According to the New York Times COVID Tracker, while there
is a decrease in COVID related cases over the past
two weeks, still roughly more than fifteen hundred Americans are
(01:14):
dying daily from COVID. While most states are seeing a decline,
Alaska and Montana are recording the highest number of cases
per capita in the country. It's being dubbed strike October.
Americans are leaving their jobs in record numbers. August saw
record breaking four point three million people quit their jobs.
(01:37):
With workers having more opportunities in the job market, hundreds
of thousands of people are striking over grievances about wages, benefits,
and quality of life. According to Cornell University School of
Industrial Labor Relations, there's been over a hundred and seventy
eight strikes this year alone. Just last Thursday, ten thousand
(01:57):
John Deer workers at fourteen factories across four states staged
a strike after the United Auto Workers union rejected a
contract offer. The union is calling for increased pay, improved
retirement benefits, and removing forced overtime. This is the first
strike in twenty five years at John Deere, with the
last strike lasting a hundred and sixty three days. Similarly,
(02:21):
over one thousand, four hundred Kellogg's employees went on strike
on October six, demanding better pay and benefits at factories
in Battle Creek, Michigan. Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Memphis, Tennessee, and Omaha, Nebraska.
And Hollywood averted a huge hault in production on Saturday
after over sixty thousand production workers reached a deal hours
(02:44):
before a planned strike. And lastly, Haiti, seventeen missionaries, sixteen
Americans and one Canadian were kidnapped while on a trip
to an orphanage this past Saturday. That's according to Christian
Aid ministries. Five of those kidnapped your children. A Haitian
police inspector told the Associated Press that the four hundred
(03:05):
Mao Zoo gang kidnapped the group about seventeen miles east
of Haiti's capital, port of Prince. The U. S State
Department is aware of Saturday's kidnapping. The problems plaguing Haiti today,
including its gang violence, are extremely complex. How can the
US and the international community help bring stability to the
country and what's America's responsibility to Haitian asylum seekers? Here
(03:29):
to help us better understand what's happening in Haiti. Gary
Pierre Pierre, founder and publisher of the Haitian Times. Gary, welcome,
thanks for having Arena. I want to ask you about
the US Mexico border, the migrant crisis. There there was
a camp of hopeful Haitian asylum seekers and he grew
to fourteen thousand. The US was criticized for their response
(03:52):
the videos at the border. We saw officials on horseback
appearing to whip the Haitians to try and prevent them
from crossing over. Pretty disturbing. Were they there in the
first place? Well? Were you know? These asylum seekers were
people who left Haiti after the earthquake, and large number
right the massive earthquake in they went to Brazil to
(04:13):
work in the construction industry because Brazil had two major events.
It was organizing the Olympics and the World Cup, and
so about a hundred and fifty Haitians went to Brazil
to work. After the games were over, there was nothing
for them to do, and the Brazilian basically said you
(04:33):
are in your own They couldn't get in a job.
They realized that they didn't need a visa to get
to Chile and they faced blissoming racism. The welcome was
not red coverted. And then when President Joe Biden extended
TPS for Haitians. TPS is temporary protective status given by
(04:54):
the or as two countries played by natural disasters or
conditions where they can go back words. There's circulating in
South America that if they came to the border and
they got into the United States, they will be given TPS.
It will be extended to them. So that's why you
had this migration that took as long as two to
three months from South America up to the Mexican border.
(05:18):
There's nothing in Haiti for them. They left long time ago,
and ten years and is a long time because thanks
sharing so rapidly. So the situation on the ground in
Haiti has really only become more chaotic since the May
announcement regarding TPS by Homeland Secretary. New Yorkist President Jovanna
Moise was assassinated early in July. Then cam August, the
(05:39):
country was hit by seven point two magnitude earthquake. Tell
me what the conditions are like in Haiti now. Well,
the earthquake hit the southern peninsula, which is at home
to roughly two million people, and about half of those
people are still what we call living in tent we
could call them homeless internally displaced. A lot of people
left their village of towns and hamlets where they were
living and I see refuge and shout to other places.
(06:02):
There's some humanited terran it, but it's not enough. I
would ask you a little bit more about the assassination
of President Louise Haities chief prosecutor said in September there
was actually credible evidence linking the acting Prime Minister R. L.
Henry to the president's murder. Shortly after that announcement, the
prosecutor was out of a job. What's going on there?
(06:22):
How is this impacting the justice system? Well, first of all,
that was really irresponsible for the justice to say that
it provided no evidence whatsoever. His evidence was that Arieli,
who is a prime minister you was speaking of, had
a call with someone who's supposedly wanted in the assassination. Well,
that person is a former government official. Now this is
(06:47):
a smaller circle of political people, right, So the fact
that they were talking to each other means absolutely nothing.
In fact, if they were not talking to each other,
it would be a problem because everyone was shocked. I
know I was when I heard the news, and so
people were trying to talk to each other to figure
out what was going on. To ask you a question,
what it does, it muddies the water even more and
(07:09):
it extends the chaos on top of what already exists,
because he should know better as a prosecutor not who
make accusations without providing the evidence. And so it was
unfortunate because I think the investigation right now lacks credibility
because of that. And he was out of a job
because I think are allow to read who had the
(07:31):
authority and fired and pardon for cause, and so there's
no one now, there's no investigating judge, and so the
kiss Freeman's in limbo. The Haitian police have also detained
a wide array of people in connection with the killing
that You've got eighteen Colombians, several Haitians, Haitian Americans. They're
still seeking others. What do you think the likelihood is
that there will be justice for the assassination of the president.
(07:56):
If we're counting on the Haitian judicial system, we're not
going to get much justice now. The FBI and the
Homeland Security sent investigators there. I'm not sure where they
are in their investigation. If I have any hope, it
is with them because they don't have any skin in
(08:16):
the game. They're professional, they're not gonna protect anyone. They'll
just follow the facts and let it take them where
they may. You know, a lot of people look at
countries where they don't really have a strong justice or
political system. How does the international community help a country
like Katie. Well, right now we have to go back
(08:40):
to really help threaten these institutions, as you mentioned, that
are the pillars of democracy, and when they are weak,
as they're in Haiti, start trying to build a house
from the third floor up. You can't that. It's ridiculous
notion that to ben think about it. Our profession, the
media is actually very weak. They're not well paid. In fact,
(09:03):
it's probably one of the lowest paid professions. And it's
not that it's paid that well here either, but at
least we can practice it um and they don't have
the training, they don't have the skills necessary to inform
the public and to distill and to process information, and
they don't have credibility themselves. So we have to look
(09:25):
at our profession and what it needs to help inform
civil society and the government and the junidicial system. The police,
they're extremely weak. Gains essentially control the country right now.
The gangs decide who goes where, and at one point
the government had to negotiate with the Games to allow
(09:47):
even the government ship meant to get to it. I mean,
think about that for a moment. So what the international
community can do is really trying to show up those
basic institutions and infrastructure that you need. Once Haiti has that,
the rest they can handle. One of the things I
would say that the U S did is that the
rushed through this democratic process and Haiti we went through
(10:11):
overnight from a twenty nine year dictatorship to democracy doesn't
work like that. All the institutions that we were talking
about were banned, There was no free press. The police
was just basically a militia responsible to one man the dictator.
Boys and girl scouts were banned. Any anything where people
got together. They were seen as threat to the state.
(10:33):
Civil society didn't exist, and we're still struggling with the
notion of democracy because it was a cheap version of
what democracy should be. Cheap version of what democracy should be.
It's so fascinating, Gary it talked you about this. You know,
we've covered Afghanistan extensively and one of the things we've
looked at is as we export democracy, we sometimes try
(10:54):
to americanize a country and As you mentioned, Haiti for
so long has been under dictatorship. It doesn't suddenly transform
into an American democracy. So how do we help, how
do we help create solid ground for that foundation to
be built? Well, the challenges that the United State doesn't
have an appetite for nation building, and that's basically what
(11:15):
it will take. Joe Biden has no capital on Capitol
Hill to present something like that. It can try funding
for some of these things. Billion. I don't mean there's
thirteen billion dollars of aid sent to Haiti over the
last decade. Where did that money go? Well, you know,
the government plays games with these numbers. Fourteen billion dollars
(11:38):
did not go into Haiti the last decade, and a
lot of it was pledged to Haiti but not actually delivered.
He doesn't have the capacity to spend fourteen billion dollars.
It doesn't. They kind of need cannot absorb it. Well,
we've got to take a quick break. We'll be right
back with Gary Pierre Pierre, founder and publisher of The
(11:59):
Haitian Times, on The Recount Daily Pod. Welcome back to
The Recount Daily Pod, a podcast from The Recount and
I Heart Radio. I'm here with Gary Pierre Pierre, founder
and publisher of the Haitian Times, and we're talking about
the Haitian migrant crisis as well as the country that's
trying to recover from a tumultuous summer. I want to
(12:22):
go back for a second, and you were saying President
Biden has made clear that he's not interested in nation building.
If that is your assessment and your understanding where Haitia
is right now, where do you see America being the
biggest partner in terms of this particular White House. Where
can they make the biggest difference. Well, I think there's
a sector of Haitians that has been helping out the
(12:44):
bid to help. It's Haitian Americans who have the skills,
essentially have the feet in both worlds. They understand Haiti.
They are Americans for the most part, and they have
the skill sets that are necessary. But previous administrations have
kept them at arms length for whatever reason. I don't know,
but it is the time now to enlisted them. They
(13:05):
have the capital, they have the interesting of the desire.
It's just that there are certain basic institutions, infrastructure that
need to be put into place for them to function.
For instance, he he doesn't have any hospital to speak of.
Right now, my generation, you know, we enter in the
retirement age and everybody is a dilemma for us. I
(13:26):
don't want to move to Florida, and I don't want
to move to the Dominican Republic for historical for all
the reasons, but he does not provide me an opportunity.
And there are people who can build really nice housing
development for retirees and they can come back. But you
need hospitals, you need electricity, you need a certain infrastructure
(13:47):
in place for you to take advantage of that. He
is a virgin country. Essentially, there's a need for everything,
but you don't have the basic infrastructure to ensure that
these projects actually take hold and flourished. You had mentioned
the security concerns as well. Gary. They go in hand
in hand with haiti struggling economy, the social unrest. Is
(14:09):
there anything being done right now to address those issues?
And if not, should there be? Can anything be done
while the government continues to be so unstable? Yes, there
was something that was working in along the same line
of Haitian Americans. Uh. The Obama administration had created this
program sending Haitian American police officers from New York and
(14:29):
Florida to work with the Police National Force to help
show their capacity and then Trump administration cancel that program.
And I think that's something that they can bring back
and bring it back bigger because the security problem is
also a job creation problem, because a lot of these
young men that these gang leaders have enlisted to go
(14:52):
out and carry these kidnappings and and shootings and all
of that. If you give them the choice between a
decent job and and and doing the dirty job, I
guarantee you you know, they'll take the job because their
food soldiers are not getting paid when when they kidnapped someone,
they're not getting the million dollars whatever amount of rent
some money that the gang leader is collected. You know,
So if they get an opportunity to get a job,
(15:15):
they'll take the job. And so you can tackle the
security issue and too fun vote from a law enforcement
and also from a social and job economic development perspective,
they're intertwined or two. Are you getting the sense that
people are still trying to escape Haiti? Absolutely right now.
The Coast Guard has been interdicting more people in the
(15:37):
high seas and really dangerous boats. Hayde is unlivable right
now and there's no hope and they are looking to
get out. I don't take any pleasure at all of
saying this, because you know, I devoted my professional life
to Haiti and trying to make it a better place.
So I can help people understand Hay, they help patients
(15:57):
understand Hey, they help Hatians and Haiti understand the diasport
and so you know, I've been trying to be a
bridge builder rather and to see where we've gotten it's
really disheartening. But I'm also optimistic that you know, we've
reached in a deer this is a moment where we
can decide, Okay, this cannot continue and we need to
turn things around. What gives you the biggest hope about
(16:21):
Haiti and what is your biggest worry. My biggest hope,
it's the people. The ingenuity of the Haitian people. You
have polyglocks. The Haitian is big French, Creole, Spanish and Portuguese.
That's an asset that they have that they can translate
into all kinds of opportunities. My biggest worry is the governance.
(16:41):
We've had a quterie of incompetent people at the helm
of the Haitian government because there are obstacles to progress.
Gary Pierre Pierre, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and founder
and publisher of the Haitian Times. Gary, so grateful you
could break down Haiti and explain this to deeper today.
Thanks for me. Now, I hope I was able to
(17:03):
do that, giving the complexity of Haiti. And now to
the look ahead. Here's what else we're watching today. Jury
selection begins today for the trial of the three white
men accused of murdering mod Arebury last year. Arebury, a
twenty five year old black man, was jogging down a
residential street in Brunswick, Georgia, before being chased down by
(17:24):
the three men in a pickup truck. The men suspected
Arebery of being behind recent break ins in the neighborhood.
Arebury's name was one of the many rallying cries at
racial justice protests that swept the country last year. First
Lady Dr Jill Biden, along with Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona,
will host the State and National Teachers of the Year
(17:47):
at the White House this afternoon. The event honors roughly
a hundred teachers for their excellence in teaching and commitment
to students learning. The National Teacher of the Year is
Kansas preschool teacher ta the Rossbroy and Julia urt Bay,
an elementary special educator, is National Teacher of the Year.
Congratulations to all the teachers. Absolutely real life superheroes. Get
(18:13):
ready to upgrade. Apple's annual fall live stream product event
called Unleashed is happening today. The show offers the latest
product updates for Apple, lots of speculation that we might
see a redesigned MacBook without the touch bar, AirPods with
shorter stems, and the release date for the new operating
system Monterey. Live stream will begin at one pm Eastern
(18:36):
on Apple's website. Have a great day, everyone, see you
back tomorrow. This is a Recount Daily Pod of podcast
from the Recount our Thanks to Gary Pierre Pierre, founder
and publisher of The Haitian Times, for being on the
show and if you like the podcast, I hope you'll
subscribe to the Recount Daily Pod. Do leave us a
(18:58):
rating on the Apple Podcast Out. I'm your host, Rina
and I
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